Today George is my favorite Beatle.

Captain Simian

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Been a rough few months with very little playing time unfortunately. This made me break out a uke for the first time in 6 weeks.

"He came in with two ukuleles and gave me one. 'You gotta play this thing, it's great! Let's jam.' I have no idea how to play a ukulele. 'Oh, it's no problem, I'll show you.' So we spent the rest of the day playing ukuleles, strolling around the yard. My wrist hurt the next day. But he taught me how to play it, and a lot of the chord formations. When he was going I walked out to the car and he said, 'Well, wait... I want to leave some ukuleles here.' He'd already given me one, so I said, 'Well, I've got this.' 'No, we may need more!' He opened his trunk and he had a lot of ukulele in there, and I think he left four at my house. He said, 'Well, you never know when we might need them, because not everybody carries one around.'" - Tom Petty

69dcf8a20f2e1d75d48672025bcd46dd--george-harrison-the-beatles.jpg
 
Been a rough few months with very little playing time unfortunately. This made me break out a uke for the first time in 6 weeks.

"He came in with two ukuleles and gave me one. 'You gotta play this thing, it's great! Let's jam.' I have no idea how to play a ukulele. 'Oh, it's no problem, I'll show you.' So we spent the rest of the day playing ukuleles, strolling around the yard. My wrist hurt the next day. But he taught me how to play it, and a lot of the chord formations. When he was going I walked out to the car and he said, 'Well, wait... I want to leave some ukuleles here.' He'd already given me one, so I said, 'Well, I've got this.' 'No, we may need more!' He opened his trunk and he had a lot of ukulele in there, and I think he left four at my house. He said, 'Well, you never know when we might need them, because not everybody carries one around.'" - Tom Petty

69dcf8a20f2e1d75d48672025bcd46dd--george-harrison-the-beatles.jpg

I don't think that George spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the merits and tonalities of different woods, makers ad /or strings. :cool:
 
I don't think that George spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the merits and tonalities of different woods, makers ad /or strings. :cool:

This is the BEST thing I've read on here, in... well... ever, really :) Thanks for that.

George is always my favorite Beatle, today and everyday. Glad the OP was able to find some inspiration.
 
I had heard Tom Petty was a uke but had not heard this story. Thanks for sharing!
 
Same reply, all the way.
This is the BEST thing I've read on here, in... well... ever, really :) Thanks for that.

George is always my favorite Beatle, today and everyday. Glad the OP was able to find some inspiration.
 
Thanks for posting this. I always knew George was cool.
 
George is great. Fantastic Story. I love the way he thinks. Its all about the playing and the fun and doing with other people. He was generous soul!
 
George Harrison, my hero.
 
What I don't understand is how guitar players (isn't Petty a guitar player?) don't understand how to play ukulele. Since I was only a marginal guitar player, it was a relief to go to four strings--and I flew with it. Is it that hard to ignore two strings when the other positions are the same (different names, but same positions)?
 
Pretty cool reading...

At first I thought Cornfield was the one talking to George and got an Uke from him... LOL ;)
 
If you watch the Martin Scorsese film "George Harrison: Living In a Material World", Tom Petty tells the "......you never know when you might need one" story in detail on camera.
 
I've seen the video of Petty talking about this.

What I don't understand is how guitar players (isn't Petty a guitar player?) don't understand how to play ukulele. Since I was only a marginal guitar player, it was a relief to go to four strings--and I flew with it. Is it that hard to ignore two strings when the other positions are the same (different names, but same positions)?

Considering the instruments were most likely not baritone size, there is the matter of the shapes being different different chords. I played guitar when I was younger, and so when I took up the ukulele last year, it took a few months for me to be able to look at a chord chart and associate G chord with what is a D chord on the guitar. Funnily enough, now when I pick up the baritone and am learning a new song from a chord chart, I find myself thinking in tenor.
 
That's a great story :)

I've heard a few stories about George Harrison and his love of the uke.
 
Agree, lovely story. Looks like he's playing a Kamaka. And is that a G7 or Fbm? Sadly George can't tell us :(
 
His son Dhani has said that Kamaka concert ukes were his favorites. When in Hawaii he would buy all that he could get his hands on. Also, at his 50+ room English estate, Friar Park (aka Crackerbox Palace) he kept a uke in each room.
 
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